Dr. J. E. Gray on the Japanese Pig. Al] 
but the coloration, as represented in the ‘ Voyage de l’Astrolabe’ 
(Poiss. pl. 4. fig. 2), is so entirely different that we cannot refer our 
Specimen to that species. Pl. dentex has been figured for the 
second time in the ‘ Voyage of the Erebus and Terror,’ pl. 57, from 
a stuffed specimen in the British Museum. This specimen agrees 
well with Pl. Richardsonii in general form, but its original colours 
have nearly entirely gone ; large round light blotches are still visible 
on the side of the body, but there is no trace left of the white spots 
on the back. Whether this specimen belongs to Pl. dentex or to 
Pl. Richardsonii is impossible to say ; probably it is referable to the 
former. 
January 28, 1862.—Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S., V.P., in the Chair. 
On THE SKULL OF THE JAPANESE Pic (Sus PLICICEps). 
By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S., &e. 
I have lately had the opportunity of examining the skull of this 
animal, and now lay before the Society the reasons which induce me 
to believe that it is a distinct species—and a hitherto undescribed 
species—of the genus Sus, which has as yet only been observed in 
its domesticated state. 
Some time ago, when Mr. Bartlett showed me the Japanese Pig 
which he had purchased, I was convinced of its belonging to a di- 
stinct species, and urged him to send an account of the animal, 
illustrated with a portrait of its very curious and characteristic face, 
to the ‘ Proceedings’ of the Society. 
The skulls of the domestic varieties of the common Pig, which 
are bred in Europe, differ but little from the skull of the European 
Wild Boar. 
The skulls of the common domestic Pig, which we have in the 
British Museum, for example, chiefly differ from the skull of a Wild 
Boar from Germany in the same collection in being smaller and 
considerably shorter, and in the angle of the forehead being much 
more acute and sudden, caused by the back of the two skulls being 
nearly of the same height, while that of the domestic one is generally 
much the shortest in length. The position and size of the holes for 
the blood-vessels and nerves are nearly the same in all these skulls. 
The underside of these two skulls and the forms of the palates are also 
very similar. The lower jaws are equally similar. Cuvier, in his 
‘Ossements Fossiles’ (vol. i. Cochon, pl. 1. f. 1, 2, figure of the skull), 
well represents the skull of our domestic Pig. Blainville, in his 
‘Ostéographie des Mammiféres’ (Genus Sus, pl. 14), figures the 
skulls of three male Wild Boars, and of a male and female domestic 
Pig, and on pl. 5. two skulls of Sus indicus, one from Malabar and 
the other from Siam, and one of the Sus vittatus from Java. These 
skulls all have very much the same appearance, and bear no relation 
to the skull of the Japanese Pig under consideration. 
The skull of the Japanese Pig chiefly differs from the skull of the 
Wild Pigs of Europe, India, and Java, above referred to, and from 
